Planning ahead for post military marketability

As the title would imply, I'm currently in serving in a technical position as an enlisted member. I do not plan to reenlist when my time is up, and while it is still a ways down the road (~5 years) I'd like to take advantage of the services offered by the military to make myself as valuable as possible to potential employers. I am here to seek advice, specifically direction, in pursuing this.

There are a couple services offered that interest me, namely Tuition Assistance and Credentialing.

Regarding college, I have ~30 credits (mostly electives, math, and economics) towards my associates degree, and my general job training was worth an apparent 24 additional credits at the 100-300 level. Additionally, I have 6 ACE credits at the 500 level, as well as 15 credits (500 level) toward a required 31 for a Masters of Science in Technology Studies. However, I cannot use those without a baccalaureate degree. I have a variety of CLEP and DSST exams available to take at no charge. After that, I understand there is a Tuition Assistance program that will pay for at least a portion of tuition. Additionally, I have either the Post 9/11 GI Bill or the Montgomery GI Bill available.

So here is where I stand. I have about 5 years left in my enlistment to make myself as marketable as possible, and build experience.

I should take a moment to point out that my main objective here is money. I'm trying to take the path that will put me in the best position for the highest possible annual income. Based on the information above, what path should I take? Which certs are worth it, and which ones aren't?

First: What do you want to do when you get out and where do you want to do it? 5 years is a long time away and things change rapidly.

Second: Most of the certs you just listed are only valid for 24-36 months. You would need to recertify or meet the necessary Continuing Education requirements (and pay for the annual fees) once you have the cert. Cert values come and go based on your industry and the current needs and fads. All of those certs will net you positive results in one industry or another these days, but 5 years is a long time to try and guess at. Are you prepared to maintain those credentials?

Third: The college classes are paid for. Max those out and get a Bachelor degree first and foremost and then possibly a Master degree. College degrees are expensive, time consuming, and hold their value much better over the long term than certifications. Bonus points if you can find classes that incorporate some of those certifications/training you want.

I should take a moment to point out that my main objective here is money. I'm trying to take the path that will put me in the best position for the highest possible annual income. Based on the information above, what path should I take?

None of them.

None of the successful people in tech that I know personally (they range from execs & individual R&D contributors who make low/mid 6 figures to several successful entrepreneurs worth nine figures) ever did anything in their career because money was their primary motivator. They were either fascinated by technology for its own sake, or with building things with it, or with pushing novel ideas.

Conversely, none of the people of tech background I know who got into tech for the money, were ever very successul financially (at most, they ended up with a medium-paying,moderately staying job), and none of them were happy with what they ended up.

What are you doing now in tech, and what do you enjoy (or not) about it? [/quote]

I should take a moment to point out that my main objective here is money. I'm trying to take the path that will put me in the best position for the highest possible annual income. Based on the information above, what path should I take?

I should take a moment to point out that my main objective here is money. I'm trying to take the path that will put me in the best position for the highest possible annual income. Based on the information above, what path should I take?

That story isn't new and I'm not sure why the Obama's are taking credit for it. The DoD currently requires any of their workers who work with certain equipment and software to be industry certified to a certain level. Network folks must have CCNA and other certs depending on the gear they use. Server Admins must be MCITP/MCSA/Linux+. IT Security must have CEH/SANS/CISSP certs depending on their jobs. That "announcement" has been going on for several years. There was an issue 2-3 years ago where the DoD ran out of funds to buy test vouchers for the military folks and they had a greatly reduced budget to purchase more vouchers each year which I am sure has only gotten worse with sequestration.

What do you do now Qui and what do you want to do? Certs don't mean much if you don't have any experience to go with them.

I should take a moment to point out that my main objective here is money. I'm trying to take the path that will put me in the best position for the highest possible annual income.

If all you want is money, get to know the contractors around your base and kiss ass. Find out who's hiring and what it takes to get an overseas position. Nobody gets to overcharge like a defense contractor, your security clearance will count for something, and they will actually understand and accept your military experience.

@Optikal256, Bright Wire, wavelet regarding what I want to do:My current interests are windows/unix administration, router/switch/network administration, security/pen testing, malware analysis, network analysis and incident response. I'm most comfortable with anything on the network side (router/switch/firewalls/packet analysis) as well as incident response.

@creeking regarding schooling and multiple jobsThe 500 level credits are offered through a specific school. As far as working multiple jobs, they Navy just spent the past 16 months training me for this job. There is effectively zero chance they will put me on another job.

@LordFilth regarding pursuing development/software engineeringThank you for your input. I should have mentioned that I do not wish to regularly have to write code. I've worked with it before (non-professionally) and I find it difficult to stop once I get started.

So far the direction I'm getting is to pursue a degree first. This makes sense based on the lifecycle of the certs.

As far as something I like doing. In my general training, I got exposure to various operating systems, hardware, software, and ideas. My problem was that I liked it all. I chose this rate because I like technology, and it seemed like it would at least have a future once I got out. During training, we would regularly be reminded about how much money there is in this field. Projected figures ranged from 80-196k/yr with the bulk around 110-150k. I was skeptical until I got here and started talking to people and found out that it's apparently normal. The place I work right now I make ~25k as military (<2 years in) and everyone who isn't military seems to make between 70-120k so if nothing else I'm sure it would be a smooth enough transition to just slide over.

Here's my logic behind the emphasis on money. I like the work in several directions. I'd rather not spend weeks writing code, but beyond that I'm pretty satisfied and comfortable doing just about anything in the field. They way I see it, if I like doing multiple things, I may as well pursue the one that pays the most. I don't think I did a good job clarifying that before.

Let's shift gears away from the 5 year outlook and look ahead to the start of next year. I should have a fairly routine schedule, which would leave me with sufficient time to work part time (~20-30hrs/week). I'm told (and I've been reading about) a lot of contracting available in the DC area. If I were to pursue that, are there any of those certs that would be especially helpful?

Once again, thank you for any input. I really appreciate getting all of the different angles on this.

Make friends with your contractors. I have an (Arsian) friend who went over to the dark side working for Cisco as a prior signal guy. Your TS will help in that regards, even as a junior tech. Which you will be getting out after a 6 year initial hitch. Assuming nothing changes, etc.

Dude, seriously - talk to your ESO about getting set up and finishing your degree. TA has been reauth'd. USE IT.

Are you shore or afloat? That's the next big question? I take it you're an E-3 or so, if you're a smart enough cookie, there's also the OCS route.

That part time job requires command approval. Remember that. Service needs come first.

Make friends with your contractors. I have an (Arsian) friend who went over to the dark side working for Cisco as a prior signal guy. Your TS will help in that regards, even as a junior tech. Which you will be getting out after a 6 year initial hitch. Assuming nothing changes, etc.

Dude, seriously - talk to your ESO about getting set up and finishing your degree. TA has been reauth'd. USE IT.

Are you shore or afloat? That's the next big question? I take it you're an E-3 or so, if you're a smart enough cookie, there's also the OCS route.

That part time job requires command approval. Remember that. Service needs come first.

I on shore. I won't see water during my enlistment. OCS is there, as well as a separate "college in place of work" program but I currently "owe" time for all of the training I've had. Additionally, there are also paths to LDO and CWO.

Alright, so the plan here is to network with the contractors, and finish my degree. Next question is how far do I go with the degree? Bachelors? Masters?

Bachelors at the minimum. There's lots of resources there. If you have time left over, Masters on TA. Remember that lots of the '.mil friendly' schools out there are kinda crappy. Stay away, if you can, from UoP. If not, finish your masters on GI bill. Look at the LDO and CWO paths. They'll get you higher level civvie jobs after your term. Unless you decide to stay in.

@LordFrith regarding pursuing development/software engineeringThank you for your input. I should have mentioned that I do not wish to regularly have to write code. I've worked with it before (non-professionally) and I find it difficult to stop once I get started.

@LordFrith regarding pursuing development/software engineeringThank you for your input. I should have mentioned that I do not wish to regularly have to write code. I've worked with it before (non-professionally) and I find it difficult to stop once I get started.

If you can't stop once you start, isn't that a sign of liking it?

Software development pays a significant premium over sysadmin.

I love it, especially on the web side (asp/php, m(y|s)sql). There's something satisfying about watching something come together that you made and understanding it from the inside out. I just don't like how it possesses me. I feel really unhealthy whenever I get started on a project...

Now, when you say it pays a significant premium over sysadmin...actually, what are realistic figures to expect in the industry? The last dev guys I talked to about money were contractors getting 14-16k/mo. That just seems...high to me, and I'm very hesitant to believe that's typical.

Bachelors at the minimum. There's lots of resources there. If you have time left over, Masters on TA. Remember that lots of the '.mil friendly' schools out there are kinda crappy. Stay away, if you can, from UoP. If not, finish your masters on GI bill. Look at the LDO and CWO paths. They'll get you higher level civvie jobs after your term. Unless you decide to stay in.

We had a guy from UMUC http://www.umuc.edu/ come talk to us. They seem to be the place to go in this field, although everyone seems to complain about getting fewer credits to transfer IN than estimated.

Now, when you say higher level civvie jobs, is there a scale I can use to determine how much higher it is? I had the same idea about the SRB. At present, those eligible to reenlist are being offered 90k in exchange for another 6 years from the date of reenlistment. I would be eligible to reenlist at the 4 year mark, effectively locking myself into a 10 year total term instead of 6. The thought I keep coming back to with that (assuming nothing changes) is that it would be a $15k/yr raise for 4 years, but would it be better than what I could get if I got out?

Now, when you say it pays a significant premium over sysadmin...actually, what are realistic figures to expect in the industry? The last dev guys I talked to about money were contractors getting 14-16k/mo. That just seems...high to me, and I'm very hesitant to believe that's typical.

Every junior fulltime developer in the valley is making in the high 5 to low 6 figures. Experienced developers get significantly more.

Of course, making 6 figures in silicon valley means you have a tiny apartment, but, hey, the pay is still quite good.

There are more people with certs and minor coursework for admin-like and IT management positions than there are that are able to develop.

If you're angling for defense contracting, IAT/OS L3 should be your primary goal. That along with your clearance will get you a shitload of high-paying jobs. Take a look at this chart, determine what you want to do, and certify yourself accordingly.

Based on what you said you're most comfortable with (and I assume most experienced with), I'd suggest GCIH and CCNP as a good pairing. It makes no sense to certify in areas that you're interested in but not experienced in. Be aware though, the GCIH is a really tough exam.

More than that, start making friends. Get friendly with the contractors who come through your installation, talk with them and get their card. This is something more for the 18-12 months prior to DOS time period, but it never hurts to build connections, and more than your credentials, this is what will get you a job in the defense contracting sector.

I'm in a similar situation, a network admin/engineering specialist looking to get out in about a year. I chose to go CISSP/CCNP/CCNA Voice.

Disclaimer: I am a DoD contractor who is a Sys Admin/Network Engineer OCONUS. I have been doing this for over 4 years in EU and SWA regions.

contractor Jobs - I would not continue to hold my breath on the 6 figure contractor positions. There is a lot of downward pressure and many of those payscales are getting revamped as contracts come up. This is particularly true in IT right now as we are seen as bloated and positions are being consolidated. War time funding and staffing is gone with sequestration. The high paying contractor gigs are becoming leaner in pay and position availability and especially in stability. This may change in the next 4 years, but being so far out I would not recommend relying on the payscale of today for your DOS. Also, with the big push to consolidate those positions are being further reduced to key geographical locations so you will have to be willing to live and work in those places. I am not a fan of the DC/NOVA area personally, but some people love it. Civilian markets do not pay contractor rates and I would recommend planning on setting yourself up to be able to work both the civilian sector and contractor sector with your education and certifications the way things are going. Look towards what you would need to work in the Civilian market that correlates to the Contractor market as a way to future proof yourself. With that being said here are my recommendations:

First get a Bachelors degree - Not UoP types (of which many are advertised due to being so easy to get into and so easy to pass) and try to avoid UMUC. The quality of education can be lacking and they can looked down upon by those in the know on the civilian side. The DoD side just wants to check the box and you could get a degree from a diploma mill based on the results I have seen. Look to local brick and mortar colleges that offer degrees and will accept your credits. Barring those look towards Western Governors University. I believe they are DoD approved now, but check. That particular school will get you a decent education all online with a strong focus in current IT as well as certifications (credit for ones done and test vouchers for additional ones) allowing you to kill 2 birds with one stone. Do not skimp here. Get the Bachelor degree. Many overseas positions (non-warzone) now require that as a minimum or 10+ years of professional experience which you won't have yet when you get out. Many civilian jobs also require that to get past the HR drones and check the box. This is critical simply due to the need to "check the box" and it takes a lot longer than certifications to complete. Max out your benefits every year or you are doing it wrong.

Certifications - You have a like of many different things that all relate to many different job types. These are all very different animals and I think right now you are the kid in the candy store. It all looks good to you and you want to try it all in depth. That's good. Try them all out as much as you can in your current field and see what really sticks as being your favorite. Ignore the idea of what will make you the most money and pay attention to what doesn't make you hate life and NOT want to get out of bed in the morning. It doesn't matter how much money you make if the soul sucking kills your drive to do anything else. Honestly I have much the same problem with doing code work as you. I lose myself in that work and don't come up for air for days. That's fine if you don't want to do it, but do think about it as a possibility. Many Admin positions will require you to do at least some scripting and proper Security roles will require knowledge of programming and scripting. Going forward it is something you need to be familiar with at a basic programming level to be good at any of the roles you listed.

No matter what it is you want to do down the road in DoD contracting you will need a baseline security cert. Most jobs will require a Security+, but some may require higher levels such as a CISSP. Keep that on your radar as a requirement. Many DoD contractor jobs are also asking for the ITIL-Foundation cert these days so you may want to also look into that one.

I recommend coming back here once you have started looking at the Bachelor degree and getting that worked out. Once that is out of the way and you have found something more specifically to your liking we can discuss currently valued certifications and the state of DoD contracting.

1. Get the B.A. It will be useful for the rest of your career (even the "just having it" part).

2. You may like everything now, but will you like it down the road? As part of your networking, ask folks who are more senior in the areas in which you're dabbling what the job is like for them, and see how you'd like to be doing it in several years at their level. That may help you decide your direction.

You are still a long way off from getting out, I would not set your mind to "I must get out to make money" mindset quite yet.

I think the path to "highest possible income", could involve staying in for as long as you can. I work with retired officers (2-3K per month) who are 100% "disabled" (almost 3K per month), that make a lot just for waking up. Have thier medical covered (granted it is Tricare).

At that point it almost does not matter much what you get into. It sounds like you are still young enough to not know "what you want to be when you grow up" (no offense intended, that is just what we said through out our enlistments), and you might be in a tech job now but you may grow to hate it.

Going to college is a safe and long term bet. Many of the certs you listed either expire or require yearly maintenance, so getting one of them tomorrow does not really help you out 5+ years from now. Higher the education the better, you will find masters degrees to be fairly common in that community.

EDIT: Just to add a little, if you stay in you will also have the opportunity to acquire property as you go. You will get room/board paid for and in many locations have the option to live off base and have that paid for as well. It is not uncommon to have prior service outright own at least one propery by the time thier service is up.

The message I'm getting here is that a Bachelors Degree is non-negotiable.

Does the major matter? I'm not planning on anything obscure like basket weaving or music, but does it need to be technology focused? Aside from the technology, I have strong interests in Finance, Economics, Business, and Law. I wanted to pursue a MBA, but the more I look at it, the more it seems like everybody and their mother has one, or is on their way to having one, so I'm thinking it might not be worth the investment.

Regarding the defense contractors pulling lower salaries by the time I get out...I was afraid that would happen. It doesn't make sense to have three vastly different pay scales for the same job. The thing that worries me though, with my particular job, is that I'm limited in the locations I can go, and even more limited in the jobs that I can do. I have plenty of room to grow, but I can't imagine not having to work for an alphabet agency, either as a contractor or a GS-*

But as far as getting some certs now and trying to do some contracting on the side (if the command allows) while the money is still flowing. Bad idea? I'd really like to get some more money saved and growing for later on.

qui - Oddly enough for a good deal of GS work the major doesn't matter for the BS. A BS is viewed as a pass for 'being allowed' to even compete for a majority of jobs that aren't usually being passed to contracting businesses (you still have to be qualified for the work though / so do try to be very active in College - co-op jobs which some agencies may provide students to compete in or have temp jobs that may give you a taste or even a foot in the door for a peek that someone from the outside wouldn't get). Fortunately or unfortunately due to post 9/11 and the reasons in the corrections in the intelligence community.. I'd say after 2005 or 2007? a degree in Basket Weaving won't get you 'quickly as far' as it did in military and intelligence fed careers as before. So yay for that. But the BS is still a major deal. For those interests you listed business wise they still have importance in the security field. The traditional alphabets NSA, FBI, DIA, CIA ( probably in that order of subjects you listed even ) should have reasonable listing requirements on their web sites. If not please ask them, they do have active HR folk that will answer questions but be sure to check the website first. But don't see those as the only agencies. The stuff you listed will be welcome in most Inspector General offices in any cabinet / non cabinet level Dept, and also if you can find them any "Regional" level support group. And if you do find yourself with a degree in Basket Weaving.. surprisingly that can still take you far and beyond what you could imagine in govt. service.

Anyway do lean towards what you like though, cuz life and your career won't be fun if you're following someone else's guide in what to get a degree in.

Depends on if you want to be YA contractor/GS, or if you're actually interested in producing something. There's a ton of very .. um .. inadequate BS/MSes out there. Good enough for government work, but not really all that adequate when it comes to anything outside.

If you're gonna burn some tax dollars doing school, you might as well learn something from it.

I should take a moment to point out that my main objective here is money. I'm trying to take the path that will put me in the best position for the highest possible annual income.

Money's not a bad motivation at all, but keep a few other things in mind as well. Do you want a job where you can excel working 8hrs/day, or are you OK where you're regularly expected to pull 60+hr weeks? Are you OK being "on call" at someone's whim, or do you want the freedom to take off your hat at the end of the day? Would you value the ability to work flexible hours, or work from home? Do you want the stability of a salaried position or are you willing to accept contractor uncertainty in exchange for a higher hourly rate? Do you want a higher salary in an expensive town or more modest pay where housing is half the price? How much time are you willing to spend commuting?

Are you married, or are you planning to? Starting a family? Will your job afford you time to take the occasional vacation with your partner, or see your tyke's soccer games? Will your partner also work?

Will any of it be worth it if you dread heading into the office and hate your boss?

There're lots of ways to win at life. Your take-home isn't the only thing contributing to the score. At ~25k/yr a little money means a lot, no doubt. On the other hand, the difference between triple and quadruple your salary is less than you might think.

First get a Bachelors degree - Not UoP types (of which many are advertised due to being so easy to get into and so easy to pass) and try to avoid UMUC. The quality of education can be lacking and they can looked down upon by those in the know on the civilian side.

How bad is UMUC, really? Is it make or break? Will their bachelors get rejected when I go to another school for a masters? They seem to have a partnership where I can enroll and be just past the halfway (not including gen-eds) mark to the degree.

I should take a moment to point out that my main objective here is money. I'm trying to take the path that will put me in the best position for the highest possible annual income.

Money's not a bad motivation at all, but keep a few other things in mind as well. Do you want a job where you can excel working 8hrs/day, or are you OK where you're regularly expected to pull 60+hr weeks? Are you OK being "on call" at someone's whim, or do you want the freedom to take off your hat at the end of the day? Would you value the ability to work flexible hours, or work from home? Do you want the stability of a salaried position or are you willing to accept contractor uncertainty in exchange for a higher hourly rate? Do you want a higher salary in an expensive town or more modest pay where housing is half the price? How much time are you willing to spend commuting?

Are you married, or are you planning to? Starting a family? Will your job afford you time to take the occasional vacation with your partner, or see your tyke's soccer games? Will your partner also work?

I was under the impression that a higher income would translate to longer weeks, and greater risk of being called in at inconvenient times. With some of these questions I feel I will have different answers later in life. For instance, right now I have no wife, no children, no family, no distractions, and I feel it would be irresponsible of me to try to start a family at any time in the near future.

People always bring up that contractors have no stability, but they also don't seem to be going anywhere. I'm sure the landscape will change, but right now it just looks like the contractors are making the annual salary rate in about 6-9 months. Also, despite the talk about sequestration and the such, all I hear about is expansion...

So right now, from my perspective, it looks like a very good time to be a contractor. I'm worry though that by the time I can get out, the market will be saturated and salaries/contract rates will have gone down significantly.

Right now I'm very attracted to CLEP exams. They seem like a great time saving device. Anyone know of any reason to avoid them?

First, UMUC is the best option available to military folks at this time as it is extremely difficult to get into a decent school that will put up with things like deployments and forced moves at random intervals or military work schedules. UMUC is everywhere and setup to handle this and does it well in comparison to a "normal" higher ed school. If you know for a fact that you will be in 1 location for a guaranteed set of time without deployments or have the opportunity to take 1-2 years to go to university and return to the Navy (can't remember the name of the program) then find a good brick and mortar school in the area. They will challenge you more and have a better name outside of military circles. UMUC is the most widely recognized inside the .mil structure so it's not bad. The problem I have with it are the teachers tend to be folks that are either very good teachers or doing it to make a side income and add to their resume/DD. That can lead to poor teaching and many folks getting degrees that don't appear to have learned anything at all. This is also possible in regular brick and mortars these days but not as prevalent. Just avoid University of Phoenix and many of the others that pander to the .mil education dollars. My recommendation to go to a regular brick and mortar or their equivalent online school is to differentiate yourself and cover you better on both the .mil/contractor side and the civilian market. UMUC education is better than most options available to you, but its not necessarily a great education. Do you want to go for the education and challenge or do you want to check the bachelor degree box? There are many options, but only you can really determine what best fits your needs.

Higher pay does not translate to longer weeks and on-call status. In some cases it can (I work a 84 hour week as a contractor in the bad place right now), but contracting is a different animal. We are paid for a set number of agreed upon hours per the contract and can receive comp time for extra hours, but management can push employees to go "above and beyond" and you might work 60 hour weeks keeping things running to impress the "customer" and keep a solid rating with them and win the contract rebid. I had a position where I was averaging over 50 hours a week with no comp or overtime as I was expected by management to keep things running in a perpetually broken system. The local "customer" understood this and would send me on "errands" for a day here and there and simply stopped watching the clock when it came to when I showed up and when I left so I could get some time back for myself, but that doesn't always happen. Everything is negotiable and every contract management team is different in how things will be handled.

5 years form now is a long time to go. A LOT of things will change in that time. Think of where technology was 5 years ago. Technology (and life plans and goals) moves much too quickly to plan a specific job or job type for 5 years from now. I can tell you that right now there is no stability in contracting. Just because the .gov is spending dollars doesn't mean they will keep spending them in the same place in 18-24 months. Right now many contracts are going to 1 year bids with multiple 1 year extensions on the end making them look like 3-5 year contracts but actually only really being 1-3 years depending on performance and rates. Many contracts that were for multiple years are gone or going away soon. This is one of the government's strategies to keep things lean by rebidding to the lowest bidder every year making contracting companies race each other down to the bottom. I won't take a contract with less than 9 months left on it and I actively try to find anything that has more than 15 months. I haven't found anything with more than 12 months on it (new contracts) in several months. Granted I am looking strictly OCONUS, but this applies to many CONUS programs I have seen lately as well. The government has also decided to switch a lot of existing contracts over from big companies to requiring they be small business run contracts so now the small business is subbing the work back to the big corp and forcing the actual contractor pay down as the small biz and the big corp both take their profit percentage before paying salaries.

This is fine because I have a clearance, no debts, and a nest egg I can rely on if things get ugly. If I get married/have kids then I can tell you that the likelihood I will be .gov/.mil contracting any longer will go down to almost zero. I will have to get something stable because there is no way I will put a constant move and feast-or-famine lifestyle on my family. My girlfriend barely puts up with it now. That means I will go GS or I will go civilian market. I expect that will happen in the next 3 years for me. You can look at all of those "expansions" in the news, but what you don't see is the overhead costs coming out of that money, the equipment and software costs, and constant rebid process driving the actual contractor pay down to the ground. That money is not going to go to the contractor's pocket unless you are a highly desired specialist or Project/Program manager who gets a bonus structure. In essence, don't count on those headlines as being more than inflammatory rhetoric for the general public to yell at the .gov/.mil for spending so much tax money. You have 5 years to go and things are changing A LOT in this space. Stop looking at the pay scales of today and focus on what you want to be when you grow up (or fake grow up ) as you will be a much happier person in 5 years doing what you love.

Things were very good 5 years ago. Right now between sequestration, the end of war funding, and the general dislike of contractors things are on a severe downward swing. I don't know what 5 years form now will be like, but I highly doubt it will be this kind of money. It won't be due to saturation (we already have oversaturation now from so many people hearing about all of the high "warzone" pay and wanting in), but because of what I mentioned earlier; "lowest cost technically acceptable" bidding that is the new mantra of the government. Because I and many others see this as the end of the "good money" contracting we are all trying to make the last of that money and we all have plans for moving onward to the civilian market in one way or another through the next 18 months. Many other .mil contractors on Ars have already done just that. There comes a point when the acceptable level of work issues versus pay starts to swing towards looking for a new line of work. As contractors we are sometimes seen and respected at lower than an E2 level. Its part of the job. Eventually that is no longer personally acceptable and its time to move on.

As for CLEP exams, as long as your intended college/university will accept them (check with them ahead of time) they are great resources. 3 tests got me 18 credit hours and took me about 4 hours to complete. I haven't met anyone who has ever had a negative experience with them, especially for the low cost and high speed you can knock them out at. I highly recommend them to knock out a lot of the silly degree requirements you might already be quite knowledgeable in.

It all depends on the contracts, some are good, some not so much. The perspective from the inside is that the good contracts are going away because there are so many people looking for jobs there is simply less need to treat people well.

Stability is an issue, sure there are some people that have been around forever. There are people well into thier 70s still on the job. On the flip side of that there are very few people in thier 30s and even fewer in thier 20s. This probably also depends on the contract. I am sure that a lot of the 90% travel contracts are mostly younger people.

Five years can be a long time, and an article today about billions going one direction can change a dozen times in five years. Most of our budget has been just taken away. Even things that are allocated. I also wouldn't think that because they put a billion into something they will keep it. They cut programs all the time.

As for CLEPs I think I got about 21-24 credit worth. History, English, and a couple of Math ones. When I was in they were free to take so I took a bunch, and didn't really prepare for any of them. The only bad experience I can think of is that my writing skills suffered from not taking any writing classes. When I got to a masters level program, it took me a lot of work to catch up. I did end up taking some writing classes later on (non degree seeking), just to get better at it as it was a weak area.